The LNSO’s short biography
The Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra (LNSO), one of Lithuania’s most important and advanced musical collectives, has been a part of Lithuania’s cultural life and has significantly enriched it since its inception. The LNSO was founded in 1940 by Balys Dvarionas, a composer, pianist and conductor whose name is inseparable from the Lithuanian identity. From 1964 to 2015 the Orchestra was led by Juozas Domarkas, one of the most important promoters of Lithuanian culture, and since 2015, Modestas Pitrėnas has served as its artistic director and principal conductor. Robertas Šervenikas is the Orchestra’s second conductor, Juozas Domarkas is the honorary conductor and Victorien Vanoosten – the principal guest conductor.
The Orchestra’s 84th season is marked by significant musical events. One of them is the release (record label Accentus Music) of a historic CD album for our country, Amilcare Ponchielli’s opera I Lituani (The Lithuanians). The recording was an international success, with the classical music magazine Pizzicato remarking that “Pitrėnas overcomes dramaturgical shortcomings and the sometimes poor orchestration with a conducting style based on tension and melodic unfolding”, and the Dutch music magazine Music Emotion describing the recording of the opera I Lituani as a ‘must-have’ musical novelty.
In the 2024-2025 season, the LNSO gave concerts with the renowned pianist Rafał Blechacz, participated in a concert performance of Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca with soprano Vida Miknevičiūtė, tenor Jonathan Tetelman, and bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel, and recorded Grażyna Bacewicz’s Concerto for violin and orchestra No. 7 with Polish violin virtuoso Janusz Wawrowski, conducted by Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla. The LNSO’s upcoming engagements include collaboration with one of today’s most sought-after violinists Christian Tetzlaff and the renowned tenor Joseph Calleja at the 29th Vilnius Festival, as well as tours in Poland and Latvia.
Having been an active participant in Lithuania’s cultural life for 85 years, the LNSO performs around 50 concerts in Lithuania and abroad every year. It has visited many European countries, Japan, South America and South Korea, and has given concerts in some of the most prominent concert venues of the world, such as Musikverein in Vienna, the philharmonic halls of Cologne and Berlin, and many others. The LNSO has also performed at prestigious music festivals, such as the Schleswig-Holstein, Musica Romantica in Switzerland, the Warsaw Autumn, the Prague Spring, and elsewhere. The Orchestra has been conducted by important historical personalities including Jonas Aleksa, Mstislav Rostropovich, Krzysztof Penderecki, Christoph Eschenbach; has collaborated with Monserrat Caballé, Jessye Norman, Emil Gilels, Mūza Rubackytė, Mischa Maisky, and other illustrious soloists.
Alongside the most famous classical repertoire, the ambassador of Lithuanian music actively promotes the Lithuanian composers: the LNSO is a regular participant in the international festival of contemporary music Gaida, it premieres the works by Lithuanian composers, participates in recordings, and presents Lithuanian music in Euroradio live broadcasts.
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